I must have missed something in life. I grew up at a time when The Beatles were just beginning their “US Invasion” and can still remember their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
It was a time of free love and drugs, although the option to pay was always available.
Do you remember the song “Daytripper”?
If you really grew up at that time and took in all of what was going on, you likely can’t remember that song, but you can still probably take a guess and be right.
I took a guess and was totally wrong. I just assumed that it referred to LSD trips. The actual lyrics said otherwise, although McCartney said otherwise to the otherwise. According to him, Daytripper” was an example of playful wordplay in an attempt to mask the true meaning and escape the wrath of more prudish critics.
Whatever.
It’s sad as I sit in the Nashville Airport, ready to return home, after having just arrived this morning, that for me, at least, today “Daytripper” just refers to a nameless and faceless traveler, blending into the scenery with the ubiquitous blue blazer and laptop.
Fortunately, the Nashville Airport seems to have the highest concentration of guitar toting passangers of anywhere in the world and served to break the sea of faceless daytrippers..
I never was much of a “daytripper” of any sort, but I am of the nameless and faceless variety right now, along with what appear to be travel weary salespeople.
You know the kind. The ones with the crisply pressed shirts and corporate logos. The ones that are told to always smile, lest their sorrows be a bad reflection upon the home office.
A life of that kind of daytripping doesn’t have as much appeal as the kind that The Beatles had characterized. I don’t even think that there are sad country and western sings paying tribute to those traveling cowboys.
But then, there’s also that other variety of daytripper.
Lord knows that the trading variation of “daytripper” seems like a good idea these days. But unlike a few years ago, when a large population of those day traders was wiped out, who needs to play for pennies here or there anymore?
Instead, think big. Sort of like why think a joint when it could be THC, to borrow from The Beatles post-Yogi phase of mind, if you buy into that interpretation of the song.
I usually spend Thursdays going after different kind of pennies. I usually am looking to sell some call options of 1-2 days duration, just to pick up a few of those errant pennies.
And do on Thursdays I scour my old maid holdings, those that aren’t already paired with a short call option, looking specifically fpr those that are below their cost basis and have shown some price recovery, but aren’t expected to get back to their cost by the time of option expiration.
I know. I had to read the paragraph over a few times, as well.
But lately, even those price moves that seemed unlikely to occur in such a short time frame have been occurring on a regular basis. When that happens, I lose my shares.
On top of that, the old conventional wisdom that smart traders wouldn’t stay long into the weekend, especially when there were economic overhangs, seems to have died a quick death. So instead of being able to count on a nice Friday plunge, thereby bringing my shares below their strike prices, lately they’ve just moved further away.
Luckily, just like in this past week, I can often count on “down Mondays. Those are the natural consequence of too many unwarranted moves up. They help bring share prices back to a more reasonable level so that I can re-purchase thoise shares.
Hopefully, at a lower price that they had been assigned for.
Today, once again, I was totally shut off from all human contact. By that I mean that I was with people and that prevented me from being glued to anything electronic.
Although I was fully equipped with my trusty little travel modem, batteries and chargers to spare, all tucked into the blue blazer, since I didn’t need baggage, I was still unable to do anything other than get an occasional glimpse on the puny screen of a smartphone.
That’ not terribly satisfying. Size matters.
Leaving home this morning before the market opened, I did at least hear about the surprise move to lower EU interest rates.
This one was no rumor. Only made sense for the market to react in an appropriate way and accept that news with fully open arms.
Maybe even a hug.
On top of that the world learned that when Greek Prime Minister Papandreou was calling for a referendum, he really meant “concensus,”
When will we ever learn that whenver we try to translate from thr original Greek to Grrk, something important is always lost in the translation.
Since there is no video proof in English of the Prime Minister ever suggesting a referendum, the market just assumed that it was all a misunderstanding and proceeded to squeeze the shorts just a bit more.
Despite the fact that a former deputy finance minister from the opposition party referred to Papandreou as basically an emotional wreck who was unable to deal with the stress of the situation, talk has now turned to the idea that Papandreou simply outmaneuvered his opponents.
Who cares?
Simply add another 200 points to the Dow, go right past S&P 1250 and all’s good in the world.
What’s fascinating is that these days facts seem to be daytripping, too, although it’s sometimes difficult to distinguish between facts and rumors.
The way our mindset is working these days, if something is rumored to be factual, that’s good enough. If the previous rumor is contraindicated by a new rumor, that’s good enough, as well.
Think of it as playful wordplay.
In fact, the daytripping of rumors is considered in and of itself to be a new age manifestation of fact,
As a Harold Ramis inspired character would say, “That’s the fact, Jack,” and you’d be very hardpressed to counter that unless someone else saluted you and shouted out “That’s not the fact, Jack.”
How likely is that to happen?
Very likely, if recent events are any measure.
The words may be different, but the outcome would be the same.
So even though I was fully isolated from the world, I know that today’s market response will surely lead us to Friday and recently, there’s been no negative rumors coming out of the EU on Fridays. That can only lead to more unwarranted buying, because it’s already too late to sell on the news.
Or not.
So that then brings us to Italy and the sense of deja vous will hit yet again.
The characters will be different, the politics are a bit different, but regardless of what side of the Atlantic you’re on, it’s clear that there’s lots of dysfunction going on.
We’ll probably never truly know what Lennon and McCartney had in mind when they colloborated on that song, just as well never know what was really going through Papandreou’s mind.
Either way, enjoy the outcome, because sometimes it’s just best not to know.